Signal Chain...

[chaos731]

I put this together for my own use, and I thought it would be potentially beneficial for others as a reference. Anyway, hope you likey...

[elcid]

looks good man

[barbarelaxe]

excuse my ignorance but what does the power conditioner do exactly?

[elcid]

Im pretty sure its there to eliminate voltage spikes and keep a fairly consistant voltage going to the equipment.

[chaos731]

I use the power conditioner to eliminate voltage spikes (like elcid indicated), and to eliminate the hum inherent to home electrical lines. It's also a sequencer, that allows me to push one button to turn on my entire system; it turns everything on in a specific order at preset intervals, allowing everything to power up in a logical order (the amp is last in line, naturally). Great piece of hardware, and I don't know how I ever had a rig without it. It's not, strictly speaking, part of the signal chain, unless we're talking about overall line signal, rather than just the instrument to amp chain. Plus, it does affect the overall "tone", if only by making it nice and sparkling clear starting at the wall. Good question, though.

[microdmitry]

The only purpose of a power conditioner is to eliminate the excess of cash in buyer's wallet. Cheap, transformerless power conditioner that is. The ones that have an isolation transformer in them actually do work and make sense. Trouble is, they're over $500.

[chaos731]

Originally Posted by microdmitry

The only purpose of a power conditioner is to eliminate the excess of cash in buyer's wallet. Cheap, transformerless power conditioner that is. The ones that have an isolation transformer in them actually do work and make sense. Trouble is, they're over $500.

Well, that may be true for some units in some setups for some users, so, in an effort to avoid sweeping generalizations that try to pigeonhole a whole category of gear and/or users of that gear, all I can speak to is my own personal setup. And, in my own personal setup, I've noticed what must surely be a measurable net decrease in overall signal chain hum and general noise since I hooked everything into my power conditioner (yes, the one shown above). Have I personally performed repeated and controlled scientific tests of that individual piece of gear and its effect on my overall system noise? Nope...and why on earth would I when I've evidently been silly enough to have had approximately $130.00 "eliminated" from my wallet so easily?

Apparently, I should have asked microdmitry's expert and all-encompassing opinion on the matter before I so foolhardily stampeded into that particular buying decision. Why, oh why couldn't I have had that crucial bit of foresight before making so dire a gear-purchasing mistake? I do declare, I think I may faint.


All I know is that the very apparent (to my foolhardy and evidently untrustworthy ears, that is...I mean, I've only been playing for about 30 years) net gain in overall noise reduction that I've gotten from that unit is totally worth the reasonable price I paid for that unit, and that doesn't even bring up the convenience factor of the power-sequencing features of the unit.

I dunno, man...I've spent waaaay more on single pedals that, ultimately, do less for the overall sound and ease of use of my rig than this "cheap, transformerless" and far lower than $500.00 unit.

Not trying to attack you or be a jerk or anything, and you've clearly been around here a lot longer than I have (based on your post count), but seriously, in over 2,000 posts by you, haven't you come across a post wherein someone made a sweeping generalization that is ultimately meaningless, seeing as how sound quality and noise levels are very much in the ear of the beholder?

I posted the diagram up there because I thought it might be of use to someone other than myself, as it paints a pretty solid picture of a very stable, logical signal chain. I'm not trying to show off by claiming to know more about every piece of gear that I own. Rather, I was trying to provide a basic, clear-cut example of something that works for me, in the hopes that it might work for someone else, as well.

So, with all due respect and humility, please try to remember that sweeping generalizations have never done anyone any good, whereas learn-by-example diagrams (even shoddily-put-together and not particularly impressive ones like mine) just might help someone, in some small way, to do or create something that is beyond my own knowledge, capabilities, or level of talent...
...heck, they may even be, shocking as it may seem, beyond your own.

Just sayin'. No offense taken or intended back at ya.


Hope someone finds my diagram useful, even if only in a very small way.

[sleepyone]

Like your setup chaos, there's some things here and there I don't particulary like (I mean some pedals I have tried and never liked) but the overall schematic of it looks great, some cool ideas to borrow hehehe

[chaos731]

Originally Posted by sleepyone

Like your setup chaos, there's some things here and there I don't particulary like (I mean some pedals I have tried and never liked) but the overall schematic of it looks great, some cool ideas to borrow hehehe

...and that's the whole point.



Thanks, sleepyone.

Out of curiosity, and by way of perpetuating thought and conversation, what would you change and why?

[Van Noord]

Gain boxes through your NS-2's effects loop????

[chaos731]

Originally Posted by Van Noord

Gain boxes through your NS-2's effects loop????

Yeah, I've tried many gain stomps in various places with various guitars and amps, and it seems that these work amazingly well in this particular setup.

It doesn't actually cut the distortion, amazingly enough, just extraneous noise. I was as surprised as you!

[microdmitry]

Originally Posted by chaos731

Well, that may be true for some units in some setups for some users, so, in an effort to avoid sweeping generalizations that try to pigeonhole a whole category of gear and/or users of that gear, all I can speak to is my own personal setup. And, in my own personal setup, I've noticed what must surely be a measurable net decrease in overall signal chain hum and general noise since I hooked everything into my power conditioner (yes, the one shown above).

Open it up and see what's inside. If there's no big-ass toroidal transformer - it's a glorified power strip with a "microprocessor", and you've been owned by Carvin's marketing dept.

[microdmitry]

Here's the one that actually does something:

http://www.furmansound.com/product.p...01&id=AR-15_II

If I were touring, I'd buy one in Furman AR series.

For reference, I run all my gear off a regular power strip. Back when I had a rack, I ran the gear off the cheapest rack Furman unit I could find, simply because it was rackable and convenient.

[Van Noord]

Originally Posted by chaos731

Yeah, I've tried many gain stomps in various places with various guitars and amps, and it seems that these work amazingly well in this particular setup.

It doesn't actually cut the distortion, amazingly enough, just extraneous noise. I was as surprised as you!

I once put my Boss OD-3 through my practice amps effects loop. It turned the mild overdrive from the pedal into an octave like fuzz box. Not desirable.

[sleepyone]

Originally Posted by chaos731

...and that's the whole point.



Thanks, sleepyone.

Out of curiosity, and by way of perpetuating thought and conversation, what would you change and why?

Mmm, I do prefer DynaComp based compressors, they sound more natural to me, I'm also not too fond of using chorus after delay or delay after reverb, I always set those up like this: chorus--->delay--->reberb, it gives me a cleaner sound when combining them; I just hate the MT-2 (I don't mean to be offensive AT ALL, it's just that I can't find better words to explain what I think of that pedal hehehehe) and never liked the "regular" CryBaby model...I think that's about it in the other hand you have some GREAT pedals in there: Holy Grail, DanEcho (great great pedal), DD3 (who wouldn't love this one?), PH2 (actually this one performs amazingly well when compared to a Small Stone or to a Phase 90) and the MXR 10 band EQ (I don't know how someone can live without this one hahahahahahahahahaha most useful pedal in a band situation ever!) being my favourite of them all. But still, what I like the most is the possibilities and flexibility this setup gives you, I would just change some pedals for better sounding units, and this is a STRICTLY personal statement, as you said, ear of the beholder... hehe